I wasn’t paying attention… but were your hands mostly in the same spot for the whole ride? I was constantly moving my hands between the hoods, ramps, flats, and drops. This helps me shift the load on my back around a bit.

I’ve run into this on longer rides as well. Ulnar nerve compression is an extremely common cycling ailment. I started having problems after I got the Grando together and started riding in the drops more often. After the un-meeting last year both hands ended up very weak and it took weeks(!) to get full, normal feeling back in my pinky/ring fingers.

Things I have found that (maybe?) helped:

Correcting fit. I had a stem that was too long initially and I was stretching too much and leaning on my hands more than normal.

Consciously riding in the drops less. Hood position doesn’t seem to cause it as much so rather than 40-50+% time in the drops that I’d prefer I try to save my drops time for headwinds, fast downhills, etc. where the aero advantage matters most.

Glove change. I tried a couple different padded gloves including some that are advertised to ‘bridge the ulnar nerve’ but I found the pads didn’t line up with my hands correctly and in some cases actually exacerbated the problem. A particularly bad idea was wearing two pairs of gloves (this is how I fucked my hands so bad on the un-meeting.) I wore the non-padded giro hoxtons on my 400 and had almost* no issues, a pleasant surprise.

I did have some trouble with soreness in my left hand by the end of my 400 and realized that I am right-handed. Point being that every time I grab a snack, light a J, switch a cue sheet, etc. I use my right hand while my left takes all of the pressure/does all of the work. It adds up.

Thanks for the feedback and experiences.
I try to move my hands around as much as possible but I have no idea what happens IRL. I think I end up on the bends, back from the hoods as a default position JRA on a highway.
I have relatively thin bar tape and no padded gloves.

are ur levers positioned symmetrically? sometimes i find one of mine will get setup wrong or get a lil twisted or slightly angled down and it’ll make me drop my hip more and sit all weird on my bike when im just cruisin’ on the hoods.

Andrew your posture could also be the culprit. Are you rotating your hips correctly/ is your spine straight-ish? Getting this dialed with seatpost and saddle adjustment, plus changes to your personal habits, can solve problems elsewhere.

I will check both of those. I think I’m really bad with posture, especially on extended rides. I bet when I try to get more aero I end up hunched over instead of keeping a straight back.
Supgirl says I’m pretty terrible at yoga, especially downward dog when I occasionally join her for living room yoga sessions.

[quote=Andrew_Squirrel]I will check both of those. I think I’m really bad with posture, especially on extended rides. I bet when I try to get more aero I end up hunched over instead of keeping a straight back.
Supgirl says I’m pretty terrible at yoga, especially downward dog when I occasionally join her for living room yoga sessions.[/quote]
Try to spend more time standing to climb. On long rides it’s tempting to just sit and grind everything out, but that totally kills my back and therefore my hands. Making a conscious effort to stand more had made a huge difference for me.

[quote=NOVELTYNAME]dude no
standing puts weight on your hands, which was his concern in the first place
and is so inefficient for climbing[/quote]
Maybe standing is inefficient because you let your weight goes to your hands instead of your pedals. Efficient or not, it certainly keeps my back fresher over a long ride.

If your back is messed up, your hands and arms have to do a lot more work.

[quote=NOVELTYNAME]dude no
standing puts weight on your hands, which was his concern in the first place
and is so inefficient for climbing[/quote]

No no no…

Standing does not put weight on your hands. The weight from your saddle is predominantly transferred to your feet. It’s harder because you have to lift your whole body up with each pedal stroke.
So long as you shift into a higher gear when you stand, you can pedal with a relatively similar pace (slower cadence, higher torque - but it won’t feel like the same slow cadence grind youd get in the saddle, as you get out the extra torque by having all your body weight on the pedals).
It might make you feel more tired because youre using more muscle groups, but it also allows other ones to rest. Out of the saddle, your shoulders aren’t hunched, lower back is straight, etc, allowing these muscle groups to relax.

On steep climbs, I make a conscious effort to switch between climbing and seated in order to allow my back to rest. This is super crucial so that I don’t get a sore lower back/hamstrings/sit bones.

The key, however, is to shift into a harder gear standing, then back into the easier gear seated. This will make it so you pace doesn’t fluctuate so much and help your legs recover when seated (so you arent grinding out the same gear you were standing).

also, the muscles used while standing is different. If you haven’t been doing it much, it will take sometime to get used to. It might be tiring or difficult to do at first, but it gets easier quick. Everything hurts when I ride my singlespeeds except for my back.